


a life still permanent

by SnailArmy



Series: Past, present and future [3]
Category: Original Work, Starfinder (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Crime, Implied/Referenced Child Neglect, character backstory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:34:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24526192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnailArmy/pseuds/SnailArmy
Summary: How Jack "Crackerjack" "Jackknife" "Flapjack" "Jackpot" Arson came to be.
Series: Past, present and future [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1057454
Kudos: 2





	a life still permanent

A desert, dry and red. An ikeshti broodminder corrals a gaggle of hatchlings as they trudge through the blowing sand. The smallest one, the runt, lags behind, scrambling desperately to keep up. The broodminder turns, and snaps, yelling something lost to the wind. 

The same desert, years later. The runt is still small, too small, he'll never make it on his own. But the broodminder is stern and there is no quarter for weakness in the unforgiving wastes. At the outskirts of the city, the runt stops to rest, and waits for the broodminder to notice that he is no longer with them; to turn around and come searching. No one comes. 

A bustling space station, with more people in one hangar bay than Jack has seen in his short life. The runt is Jack, now, earned his name from the first mate of the freighter he worked on to earn his passage. The ground is clean and unnatural under his feet. But there is work to be had, if you're quick and clever and don't ask too many questions. 

In the depths of the station, a kindred spirit. Vesk, and from the wrong part of town, but young and alone and already learned how to fight the world and - well, not _win_ , but come out alive. Someone to watch his back. Someone to come home to. They keep each other alive, by any means necessary. 

They're both good at keeping under the radar. Jack isn't surprised to come home and find it empty. He isn't surprised when it stays empty for weeks, or when he finally finds the note that just reads "Don't come looking." 

A college dorm, safe and sterile and everything Jack isn't used to. There's no time to take it in though; he has a job tonight that he might not come back from. Just like the one last week, and the month before that. The way he figures, either he'll survive, and be able to pay off his tuition for one more semester; or he won't, and it stops being his problem. 

A job nearly gone wrong, laser fire and screaming sirens. Jack's just about made it to the extraction point when he hears the pathetic beeping. A stealth drone, badly damaged; the AI seems to have misidentified him as friendly. Jack doesn't consider himself sentimental, but he has some extra room in his backpack, and scrap sells for a good price. He scoops it up and tries to ignore the delighted chirps as it burrows into his bag. 

He doesn't sell her for scrap. 

At some point, he starts filming himself. Not the jobs, but in between. He's charismatic, and has a way of getting into interesting situations. People start to take notice. Soon he makes his pocket money off ad revenue, then his rent off sponsorship deals. He accepts fewer and fewer of the calls from unlisted numbers. 

The deck of _the Inevitable_ , launch day. Jack has a crew, old friends and strangers and some in between. He has a home. He has a job he likes and a modest following on Space YouTube. He also has self-esteem issues, and a past that could come back to bite him in the ass if he isn't careful, but those don't matter right now. He's only at the beginning of his story.

**Author's Note:**

> for my reference, his character playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMOZ1uK1jPe26xT6CyC67xaGBfVf0gkk1   
> (title from "i wanna get better" by the bleachers) 
> 
> this fucker went to clown college for mechanical engineering. the drone's name is betsey.


End file.
